The World Is Round

DIRECTOR JEROME THELIA packs a lot into his 70-minute documentary, Bounce: How the Ball Taught the World to Play (available on iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo and Google Play), but what resonates is the notion of a common heritage shaped by the ball. "I realized you could trace this arc of play in any direction and in any part of the world, and you would have some variation on the same story," Thelia says. One example: the variety of soccerlike games that developed independently around the globe.

[The following text appears within a map. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual map.]

FOOTBALL

U.S.

Immigrants brought soccer from Europe in the 1800s, and Americans remade its flowing play into a battle over possession and territory.

ULAMA

Mexico

A 4,000-year-old game, the world's oldest, involved advancing a rubber ball (or severed head) and knocking it through a hoop using hips and elbows.

KIRKWALL BA'

Scotland

Perhaps the key ancestor of soccer, it began 300 or so years ago when villagers kicked the head of a decapitated king through the streets.

SOCCER

England

Similar games developed throughout Europe, but its introduction into British schools in the 19th century led to standardized rules in 1863.

CUJU

China

The object: kick a ball into a net without using hands. For 2,000 years it was the most popular pastime in Asia, but it faded by the 17th century.

THEY SAID IT

"PEOPLE TELL ME ALL THE TIME, IF ANYBODY CAN PLAY FOOTBALL, IT'S YOU."

Nate Robinson

The 31-year-old, 5'9", 180-pound, currently unsigned NBA point guard, who played one season of football at Washington, on his plan to try out for the NFL.

SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

The Vikings have officially requested that a road near their new stadium be changed from Chicago Avenue to Vikings Way.

PHOTO

RAF VERBRAEKEN/NOUN PROJECT (MAP)

PHOTO

AL TIELEMANS FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (FOOTBALL)

TWO PHOTOS

DAVID MCLAIN (ULAMA, SOCCER)

ILLUSTRATION

ILLUSTRATION BY RODRIGO DE LA PARRA AND VICTORIA DE SICA (KIRKWALL BA')

PHOTO

SU HANCHEN (CUJU)

PHOTO

DORLING KINDERSLEY/GETTY IMAGES (BEAR)

PHOTO

TROY TAORMINA/USA TODAY SPORTS (ROBINSON)